Oh my Hot Bejeezus
by Scream to the Stars
Summary: hahah guess what? There's a Rose Tyler come back into the picture with a very VERY messed up Doctor beside her -no not 10.5-. What's going to happen in that parallel universe I wonder.
1. Chapter 1

"Melody Pond, oh what a sight you are," The Doctor rushed to her and enveloped her in a large hug, swinging her back and forth, yet there was no real warmth. He felt the wall go up between them once again, as it always did. He smiled brightly at her, the same old happiness flawlessly hiding the same old pain he'd been feeling for years, centuries. As always, he drew back from her, careful to avoid her eyes, afraid she would see the sadness hiding behind the dark curtain.

"Oh, my Doctor, how are you today?" she smiled at him, brushing her fingers along his cheek and he only smiled once more, stepping aside to show her the way to his TARDIS and her parents, who stared at her, waiting for her to join them on another great adventure. She knew there wasn't any time to be wasted in getting out of this prison again.

"Fine, thanks, now let's get this show on the road!" he laughed joyously and began pulling his levers and flipping his switches, launching them all into the time vortex.

"Where are we going today, Doctor?" Amy asked, though he only smiled and began yelling again, choosing not to answer her, as he had failed to answer many others. She looked at him peculiarly, but didn't think anything of it and held on tight, Rory by her side. River watched the Doctor, knowing there were already wondrous smiles on her parents' faces, and she could only wonder where they were going.

He spun around, eyes alighting in a happy spark as he continuously flew his TARDIS, laughing once more when they finally landed down.

"I thought it was time for a little more fun, as a whole big happy family, my dears," he laughed, big and boisterous, before flinging open the doors and stepping out, smiling like he never really had before. "Behold!" he threw his hands up in the air, "Tarimac, of the future. It's a fun planet. I thought we could have some fun," he smiled. "I never really tried to go to a different planet recently, I thought it would be great. Isn't this great?" he laughed again and rushed up to Amy, pulling her out and pushing her onto the unknown street. She grasped Rory's hand and pulled him with her, as River took her time to walk into the bright sunlight of two suns.

"It's certainly...loud," Amy didn't exactly know how to react to the Doctor's latest...obsession, but she thought she was doing well with it all. He smiled but, then, something shot out of the corner of his eye and he flinched. For a moment, they all witnessed it. He changed. From his normally cheery self, his eyes brought on a dark demeanor and he looked as though lost. He snapped out of it quickly and smiled, allowing them to find something more fun to do than stand around his box.

"Look here, this is something great from alien technology," he laughed when they had gotten out and about, looking at the different vendors and games a "fun" planet would have. He picked up a funny looking instrument and pointed it at Rory. With a click of a button, his entire face changed into a very ugly baby.

"Oh god, what is that?" Amy shouted, staring at her husband in horror. It looked hideous, something that shouldn't belong on a human being.

"Oh it's just a shape changing module. That way the police can't find you unless they decide to scan you. It also makes a great scare for a Halloween costume back on earth," he smiled, looking excited at what he'd just explained, but made no move to change Rory back. "What it is, however, is a creature from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius. A rather angry planet, I must say."

"Raxacori—what?" Amy exclaimed, yelling directly at the Doctor. "I don't care how cool you think it is! Change him back!"

"I once met a few people from Raxacoricofallapatorius. A very long time ago, back when I looked a little...different," he smiled faintly at the memory, but pointed the little mechanism at Rory and changed him back, laughing as he did so, "Now, wasn't that fun? Oh what next, should I try something from Clum?" Oh Clum, his favorite twin planet to mock. If they thought the Raxacoricofallapatorians were ugly, the ones from Clum would send them off their rockers. River simply watched the Doctor without saying a word. "Anyway, you never want to meet someone from those two planets, they tend to eat people, moving on!" he grinned and whipped down the street, looking for another vendor, yet River held him back.

Amy looked at her daughter, but found no clue of foul play, and so pulled Rory with her to check some other things out. The Doctor looked longingly after her, but stayed with River, staring off at the atmosphere-less sky, the stars and nearby planets distracting him.

"You know, I've seen something like this once, when the earth was pulled out of orbit that one year because of the Daleks." So many reminders. He wanted to hit himself for coming to this place. "I looked wuite different back then, as well. I know you remember, River," he smiled at her.

"Doctor, what is that far off look in your eye?" River asked, staring at her beloved in rapt attention. "You always have it, no matter what. I see you hiding it well, but it's always hiding in the back of your eyes. You don't trust me, you don't trust anyone."

"What look in my eye? This is my eye, no particular look in it, is there?" he said, mixing his words around to confuse her. He caught sight of something, however and began ignoring her, staring straight past her to a girl holding his heart, a girl of his tenth form. She turned, trying to find his eyes' direction. He caught her arm, turning her back to him. "No, don't look, you won't find anything. It's my own time line playing tricks on me again. I thought I'd come here for a little poke around. There's a rift here, that we need to patch up."

"This isn't really the future, is it?"

"Oh no. Raxacoricofallapatorius and Clum have died out long ago if this had actually been the date I had typed in the computers on the TARDIS. No, this is only a few months after I picked you up. It's another rift in the universe, that's all." He smiled and looked out of the corner of his eye again, knowing it wasn't really her. He let his heart break over her long before, with the other Doctor, the human.

"Couldn't you just let someone from the other side do it?"

"Oh no, if given the chance, the girl on the other side would try and come back instead," Or, that's what he wanted to believe, that she really wasn't happy with the other Doctor. "She's always trying to find a way back, to say goodbye again. I don't know why. She had to suffer through two regenerations of myself, I can't ask the poor girl for more, especially because she's with a past regeneration at this moment," River looked at him in the most confused sense. What, in God's name, was he talking about? "Technically, I could take the TARDIS to the other side through this rift, but I don't think it would work out very well on getting back." A flicker out of the corner of his eye.

"Who was she, Doctor? The one that you talk about, yet never name?" a pain shot through his heart. He did still love Rose after all, even though he had gone through another regeneration, although he had forced himself to forget her, to force the remnants of her memory from his heart. He had no doubt that she remembered him, however. No matter what he looked like, he had faith that she would remember him.

"Rose Tyler. The only one gone right. I didn't leave her. I didn't get her killed. She's so very alive. Loving and alive. I can feel her. You know she saved me? She inhaled the entire time vortex and threw clues at herself everywhere to lead her back to me. The Bad Wolf to my Oncoming Storm."

"But she should have died then. No one can inhale the entire time vortex and live. Just like the TARDIS conscience cannot be put into a flesh body." River was...astonished, to say the least. For a human to live through that? There was something the Doctor wasn't mentioning.

"I didn't live. I took it from her. The entire vortex. She wasn't allowed to die that day. But I did, and I think she missed me. There had always been a longing in her eyes for Doctor number nine. I fell in love with her then. Rose Tyler," he yelled out, "Rose Tyler, you son of a gun!" he laughed, but fell silent at a voice calling for him.

"It hurts," it cried, "Doctor, it hurts," he turned to see a vision of her, eyes a beautiful golden glow, tears streaming. Her voice was mixed with the essence of time. "Doctor!" she cried, "it hurts!" River turned as well and her eyes narrowed. She could hear the voice as well.

"Doctor, this isn't your time line playing tricks on you. She's calling you. She needs your help. She's using your memories," he looked at the vision, terror and sadness, lonely sadness in his eyes, as he stepped up to it. Pressing his fingertips to the cheek, he whispered.

"I'm here now. What do you need?"

"He's been lost. My Doctor, he's lost from me. I lost him," it cried. "I can't find him." she was crying ever more powerfully. "It hurts," it leaned into the Doctor's hand.

"You are the rift, aren't you?" he looked at the vision in excitement, "you beautiful thing, you. River, we need to find Amy. This is the Time Vortex! It doesn't know how to contact me in any other way. It's the TARDIS, working her magic!" he looked at the sad vision of Rose, and there was Amy and Rory beside him already, never really gone from his side, as always.

"What's that, Doctor?"

"It's the time vortex, calling me. There's something wrong in another dimension and no one there can help. It did the only thing it could, it contacted me," he turned to them, clapping his hands, "Someone opened a rift and directed the energy to someone powerful. Me. Now, why did it do that?" he stared at them expectantly, but they all looked at him, clueless. "Because I have a direct connection with this parallel universe, this girl," he pointed at the vision. "She's our way in and out, let's go. With that, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the vision. Without looking back at his friends, he pressed the button. It split and he was able to walk through without a problem.

Onto a beach in Norway


	2. Chapter 2

Rose Tyler stood, staring out at a harsh gray sea, one that threatened to swallow her entire being if she even dared step once in it. She didn't move, however, arms staying at her side, although a blistering cold wind battered her bare arms, whipping around her in a torrent.

She was the calm.

Nothing really changed when four people showed up on the beach beside her. Yet, it seemed like she knew, boiling up from her stomach, telling her there were people with her. Unknown, still, yet she knew in her heart who stood ten feet from her. She called them here. She needed their help.

She turned and saw them with her eyes instead of her body. She walked up to them.

"It hurts." She was whispering, barely able to talk through the thoughts buzzing in her mind. There was a faint golden glow swirling behind her eyes, giving the mystical feel of a goddess.

"Rose Tyler, you little tramp, you. The Doctor laughed and leaned forward, kissing her. She was stunned, and so was River. Amy was angry.

"Doctor! You can't go around kissing strange girls! In front of your wife no less!" The Doctor pulled away and Rose was no longer crying, the golden glow gone from her eyes.

"I wasn't...kissing her. I was extracting the remnants of the time vortex until we needed to get back. Rose can't burn up anymore." she stared at him, tears in her eyes. "Hello, Rose," he took a deep breath, whispering the next part, "My Rose. How are you?"

"He's gone. My Doctor's gone. Someone's taken him away from me," she cried, staring around her in a lost sense. "I can't lose him. I've already lost him twice, now three times," her voice was hoarse and somewhat squeaky. The Doctor looked at her, confused. Not three times, he was going to bring him back. This would only be the second time. What was she talking about?

"What are you talking about? The Doctor's right here," Amy was becoming frustrated with the situation. What was this entire thing about? Skipping universes, kissing strange girls. What in the hell was going on? She shivered, however, when clear, assessing blue eyes were turned to him.

"Rose, don't," the retort died in Rose's throat as she listened to the strange man, knowing this was still her Doctor. "A couple years ago, when the Earth had been pulled out of it's orbit, remember that, yeah?" He began explaining to the others, "I was shot by a Dalek. You've seen me shot by a Dalek, Amy, you know I can't regenerate from that because it's an instantaneous kill. No, he side-shot me, and I was able to regenerate. But I didn't change. I healed myself and hurled the remaining energy into a hand I'd gotten chopped off during my previous regeneration." Amy and Rory looked at him as though he had two heads.

"He created a new man out of himself in a meta-crisis because the TARDIS was dying," River said in a rush. "A meta-crisis is what happens when the TARDIS is in danger and pushes information from two people into a new man, so a woman and his hand had a baby. Apparently that baby was human."

"Half Time lord. He...injected power within me so I could call you and contact the TARDIS. Before he was lost. My Doctor..." she cried, but then stared at the other Doctor. "You changed again. Your face. You look...happy," she smiled faintly and brushed his cheek with her finger. "What happened this time? Not another time lord mind in a human's body, I hope."

"Oh no, nothing like that. It was more like intense radiation from a time portal of which all the other time lords who had been contained in the time lock managed to get out and make a huge scene. But I stopped them," he smiled.

"I guess you could say something like that happened here. We were almost thrown out of orbit by Raxacoricofallapatorius. They wanted to get revenge on the cybermen for making their lives hell. Apparently no one had told them that the cybermen were dead," she smiled faintly, staring at her hands. "Thanks to you."

"Really, Rose. If you hadn't made that sacrifice, there would still be cybermen on this planet. Anyway, what stopped them?"

"The Doctor. He was angry and sent them a message. They knew of him somehow, and they stopped their attempt. The Doctor can't run anymore, but he makes a very good threat when it comes down to it all." The Doctor almost flinched because of her unknowingly biting remark, but he didn't say anything about it.

"How did your Doctor get hold of Time Vortex power, Rose?" he couldn't stop saying her name. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and hug her, throw her from side to side because he missed her. He missed her ideas and her explanations. He missed how her hand fit in his and how she ran with him. He missed her love and how she reacted to every single crazy idea he had ever come up with. He missed traveling with her and exploring new places and, although they didn't share the same intelligence, he missed simply talking to her.

"I'm not...I'm not sure. He said I would need power, and so gave it to me. Then he never came home. He said he would be back, and I didn't have any reason to doubt him. I couldn't deal with the pain though...it hurt too much. I needed you too take it away from me," she whispered. The ultimate reason she had called him was to get the damned vortex out of her mind for good, for her Doctor hadn't been missing for too long.

"So we need to find...my hand, and get him back to you safely. We then need to get back to our own dimension. Which just means Rose can open the vortex again and...Handy, let's call him, will take the extra energy off of her in the end. Does that sound good?" he turned to stare at everyone in turn and scoffed. "What's with everyone today? We just need to help an old friend."

"An old friend you never mentioned," Amy intervened.

"I would imagine that it's far too painful, my dear Amy," Rose smiled when Amy looked at her surprised, "Ah, yes, I know your name. And Rory, and River Song, or Melody Pond, as was her given name. Though separated in an entirely different universe, my Doctor still gets readings from you. He knows all of your memories although he never changed. I wonder...does it go both ways?"

"No, otherwise I would have been here sooner," it was a lie. A quick and effortless lie that he knew Rose saw. He knew in the way she narrowed her clear blue eyes. He could never put up a front while she was around. He knew of every kiss and every caress, every hold and every moan. He simply did not want to admit it in front of them all.

"Anyways, I've been stuck here for years with my Doctor. He's gotten better, Doctor. He won't commit genocide. He's a little less brash and a little...easier. It's like crashing all over again. So long ago...how long has it been for you, my old Doctor?" she asked, a bittersweet tone in her voice as she stared out at the gray ocean, surrounded by gray clouds. "A decade? A century?" she stared at her hands for a moment, "It's had to be that long. To forget the pain. It's hard for me to forget it sometimes. I hate it," she whispered. There was always the broken heart he had caused, though his twin had somehow managed to stall and hinder the rage and pain she still felt. Sometimes he felt as though she was a proper Time Lord.

"I'm sorry. I tried doing what was best. The world hadn't been ready for me until you came along. It couldn't have been ready for another me, albeit one that would only last so long. You know those were the best days of my life. Even when you killed me," he joked, smiling at her as a tear began to gather at the corner of her eye. "No, no, no crying, Rose, you've done too much of that for someone so young."

"We don't age, Doctor," she whispered.

"What?" he looked at her, baffled.

"Me and my Doctor. Your...twin. We don't age. It's been four years and we both look the same. We actually had to move because we don't look the same. Why don't we age?"

"You were in the TARDIS for years without end. You inhaled the time vortex. You loved, still love, a time lord. Well, half a Time Lord. No wonder. You've skipped entire dimensions! Oh, Rose..." he looked positively flustered.

"Alright, what in hell is going on, I demand to know," Amy glared at them both, her eyes dangerous. Rose took a step back.

"I was shot through the heart and lived, Doctor."

"Of course, you inhaled the entire Time Vortex," he stood, whispering to himself. "Has anything happened recently? Weird...sounds." He completely ignored Amy as he usually did when he was busy trying to think.

"A weird...glogging sound? I guess. Like...something materializing but not really. It doesn't happen that often, but I hear sometimes, in the far off distance."

"I know what's happening," he smiled, grasping the sides of Rose's head like he used to and she smiled sadly, a vision of number nine flickering in her mind's eye. "You were both connected strongly to the TARDIS. Your Doctor had time vortex...stuff...to give you. He GREW his own TARDIS!" The Doctor laughed, resisting the powerful urge to kiss her, like he had felt his counterpart do several times. "The only thing is that he doesn't know how to materialize it. Hell, I don't know how to materialize it. Which is why he's stuck! A-ha!" the Doctor laughed again and spun around.

"He's growing his own TARDIS? You can do that?" Amy intervened yet again, pushing the Doctor to attempt to get an answer.

"In normal circumstances, no. But I placed in this world several entities which aren't supposed to be here. Rose. Mickey. Jackie. My twin. You aren't supposed to be here, but you are. There's the one thing that isn't here that you need and that's a TARDIS. It's bled through the cracks of time. Probably a lost TARDIS whose master died. Rose, you and your Doctor are the first Time Lords of this dimension!"

"But we don't have two hearts!"

"Check again, my dearest," he grinned and unabashedly laid his hand right over her chest. "Ha-ha! Two hearts right there, beating against my palm. You're going to live a very, very long time," he smiled. She looked up at him, more dazed than confused. He felt a vibration in his head, a psychic message from his other half. "He wants me to kiss you, and hell that I won't!" he laughed and grasped her chin, kissing her lips harder than he ever had before. She was surprised, but reacted well to the kiss.

"Excuse me!" Amy pulled him away from her.

"Mother, it's alright. Rose is away from the better half of them. In this world, the other Doctor is the stronger entity. He's going to be a little more powerful on the psychic side." River Song pulled her away from the Doctor, who offered his hand to Rose. She stared at him for a long moment before laying her hand in his.

"Now, let's go find that TARDIS." He pulled her after him and then stopped. "First, I have to find out where it is." Everyone began laughing at him. "Shut up!" Rose giggled a little more and pat his arm.

"He says he's just going around this area and England, looking for you. He doesn't know how to land it." Rose was speaking from a psychic message. Seems he finally figured out how to do that, instead of leaving her completely clueless again.

"He should. He's been in a TARDIS before. He has all of my memories."

"So? Not all TARDIS's are the same! He's sent me a psychic message. The thing looks nothing like...ours," she finished stupidly, looking around, confused. "First off, the console room is a lot bigger. Huge, compared to yours."

"That's because I've got a real old girl. I stole her when I was young and she was old. We've both just gotten older. That TARDIS is probably a little newer, from another time in the stream, that's all." He laughed and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, pointing it up at the sky.

"Well...I miss our home. It hasn't ever seemed the same without traveling through time and space." He looked over to her, taking in the blonde locks and beautiful, full lips. he wanted to take her with him. He wanted to leave Amy and Rory and River behind and take her to the real dimension. He wanted to run away with her again. It was always the Doctor and Rose. Easy and simple.

"River, why is he having so many issues with stepping away from her?"

"It's always been the Doctor and Rose. Amy, he's been hiding from you, from me, from everyone since Rose. She broke his shell and taught him to be kind and easy going and careful, to keep himself from killing others and feeling so much anger. But then she was ripped away from him, painfully and terribly. He channeled the anger into others, but he didn't kill anyone ever again just because of her."

"So? You're his wife."

"And now Rose is a Time Lord. She's probably shared his DNA through...well you know. It's grown and mutated and changed her and the twin..he somehow created into a human. She also inhaled the entire Time Vortex, remember. It probably sped the process and changed her body more quickly, for everything leaves remnants, memories, traces and whatnot. What matters is that she's a Time Lord now. He can stay here with her forever. He can be with her until they both die. It doesn't matter now if they can both live forever. He'll just send his twin back with us. He'll be able to love Rose like he's always wanted."

"Doesn't that make you feel sad, though?" Amy asked her, sadness resounding within her own voice. "He's your Doctor."

"No, he's always been Rose's Doctor. Always has been her's, there isn't anyone else who can begin to take the place in her heart, not even an exact replica. His twin is someone I know too. Just like Rose, I've lasted through two regenerations, but I was clouded in mystery and she in love. He's always loved her." He'll never stop, she knew, no matter how hard he really tried.

"But they can't just pick up where they've left off. She keeps going on about her Doctor. About how she loves her Doctor. She can't just switch and love the other one."

"Yes she can, for the same reason I can. Her Doctor _is_ The Doctor. They're both the same person, one just hasn't regenerated yet. He's still stuck in his tenth form. It's just...different I suppose. Just look at him, though. The Doctor and his Rose together again. A brand new renewal," River sighed, smiling at her mother.

"It's up there. Handy found a sonic screwdriver and he's sending a signal back down," The Doctor yelled back at them, smiling, looking to the beaming Rose, who watched his hands and eyes move with such thought and precision.

"I've missed you, you know. He updates me on your whereabouts, but he knows that he can't replace you, no matter how many memories and looks he's got. Even though your face changed..." she whispered, looking at the ground. "I need you, Doctor. Not some look alike," she whispered.

"Oh my Rose. My dear, sweet, beautiful Rose. Come here, you crazy girl," he laughed and pulled her into his arms, tighter and tighter. "I can't think of a moment when I wasn't thinking of you, when I wasn't trying to be better. We both were, because we both love you, even when Handy up there knows he can't replace me." His hearts were spilling out the love and devotion to her, love and devotion no one else would ever have.

"My Doctor...How I missed you," she cried into his neck, seeing how he was still the perfect size for her to hug and hold. "But you need to get the TARDIS out of the sky and on to the ground, so John can get out," she laughed at his confused face. "You really didn't expect him to get a real name?" she laughed again when he turned to her, even more confused. "You always use the name John Smith, so he just goes by that name now. It was easier."

"Well, It's better than calling him Handy, isn't it?" the Doctor laughed. "Now promise me one thing, Rose, one very important thing."

"What?"

"Don't let go of my hand," he offered it again to her and she took it without hesitation. "Now hold on tight, Rose, and get ready to run."

"Oh Doctor, I never stopped," Rose winked at him. Astonished, he took a moment before pointing his screwdriver at the sky and clicking.


	3. Chapter 3

**No. We won't give you food. In fact, just go to Wendy's. No one wants you here.**

* * *

"Is that an ATM machine falling out of the sky?" Rory asked, pointing up at the overcast heavens. The Doctor and Rose started laughing without reprieve, though Rory looked at them both as though they'd gone mad.

"Looks like the Chameleon Circuit's working. Maybe it's not as bad as our old TARDIS after all," she laughed, pointing at it as well. The Doctor kept his screwdriver pointed as it crashed into the sand, helping it slow and stall with a metal grating sound. The door at the back opened and out popped the Doctor, smiling like he never had before.

"Why, hello! River, you haven't seen me like this for years. Amy and Rory never have. And Rose. Thank god you got to them. I would have hated seeing you burn up..." he ended up whispering, seeing the other Doctor's hand twined in hers. "So I was right, was I?" He looked up, snapping out of his reverie. "Anyway, come have a look inside and see what's going on in here!" He laughed and gestured everyone inside, though River was the more suspicious.

"Oh wow, look at this place. It's a beauty!" The Doctor cried, turning every which way in order to see everything. "Does it make that awful racket when you fly? Oh well when there aren't enough people to fly it because it's difficult and evil."

"No, it doesn't. It seems that it was built for a one pilot crew, no matter how big it really is," the Doctor answered his counterpart, standing by the console and watching him. Rose smiled at her old Doctor, always excited about new things. She turned to the tenth regenerated form.

"How'd you land it, John?" she asked, staring everywhere on the console, trying to find the right button.

"It was the green one. I would never think the green one was the landing gear, would you? That's the weirdest thing I have ever seen in a TARDIS. Maybe because it doesn't belong to me? I don't know, but there it is! The landing gear," he smiled, pointing to it.

"Alright, now that I've had a look around, why did you call us here? It's certainly not worth putting Rose in danger over a little landing gear dysfunction," the Doctor popped up behind Rose, brushing her arm with his fingertips. John looked at them both as though they knew everything that was going on in his mind. In a way, they really did. "After all, you would have figured it out eventually, you are very smart."

"Well, seeing as you're really the smarts behind us both, you can't exactly...oh, whatever. Anyway, you know TARDIS is alive, all of you know that," Amy and Rory looked at him, confused. "Maybe you don't know that." He looked at the Doctor.

"They know that. The TARDIS conscience was taken out of it on one of our great adventures." Of course Rose knew, she'd looked into the Time Vortex once, she knew that it was alive. Amy was still looking around, confused still. Rose leaned her head into her hand for a moment, trying to figure out a way to explain it to her without being the most confusing being in her universe.

"Alright, Amy. You jumped through a...home-made dimension cannon and it landed you here. Where you met me, and my Doctor, who named himself John Smith," John raised his hand as if to say 'that's me.' "He couldn't land the TARDIS he'd found, and so your Doctor," he raised his hand next, "helped him. Now he's trying to figure out why John called him here, that's all."

"Alright, I get that part, but what's all this lovey-dovey stuff you two got goin' on now?" she pointed between her and the Doctor, Amy's Doctor. "I mean, she's his wife," she pointed to River.

"Ah, yes, well I expect that's my bit to explain," John came forward. "I committed genocide...mass genocide. Well, when I was born that is. Too dangerous to keep on earth, your Doctor gave Rose up so that she could help me. It was okay...for a while, until she realized the Doctor regenerated. I could never replace you, Doctor. She's sorta...hooked on you, I suppose."

"You like that I regenerate? It's like a whole new me, Rose, how can you like that?" Rose looked at him, a spark in her eyes. He knew that spark. The spark of something new and exciting. Of something unknown that she has to figure out. She didn't need to give him an explanation. "Oh, my dear Rose, you. Smart, endearing Rose!" he swept her up into another hug, tight like he remembered.

"What just happened?"

"She watched him change. Really the only one in a very long time, and she never really felt any different towards him. Of course, I can't make any replacement. I don't change, and that's always how she's differentiated us. The Doctor who can't die."

"Well, you can't now, either," River finally spoke, moving up to stare at him. "I remember this form. I met it, in the library. Remember? I know you do," she said. "It was before this..happened," she pointed to him in his entirety.

"Well, yeah, course. He thought you were goin' to die. Didn't really work out there, did it?" John looked around, thinking for a moment. "Anyway, we've come completely off topic, Doctor. The reason I called you here was because there's something in this TARDIS that isn't supposed to be here. Another big...conscience thing. It's messing with all the spacey-wacey stuff. I think it's why the landing gear's green and not red."

"I highly doubt that part, but let's go find out," the Doctor said, pulling them all away from the center console to the closest door (which wasn't the exit). "Now I know you found a sonic screwdriver, you'll probably need that in a minute," he said, pointing to John, who dutifully pulled it out. They advanced together, cautiously looking from one room to the next.

"Do you honestly think it's going to be this easy?" Amy spoke up behind them, but Rose hushed her automatically, wanting no instance of insult to her Doctors. Amy looked at her, surprised, and shut her mouth. She didn't like this one, there was something wrong with her. The Doctor smiled to himself, however, always the same old Rose.

"It's resonating from the very center of this TARDIS," John said, analyzing the reading he received off the screwdriver. "It's huge, very very big. Oh, and angry. I wonder why it's angry," he whispered, staring at the Doctor, who just shrugged at his counterpart and moved along. Rose ran up to him and grasped his hand. He turned to her and smiled. He missed this girl. Soon enough, there was a fork in the road.

"How shall we do this?" River asked the Doctor, obviously thinking he was the one in charge.

"I don't know, John?" the Doctor turned to the other, knowing that he was the one taking charge because this was his universe. By default, he was leading the expedition.

"You and Rose take the left, Amy and River take the center, I and Rory will go this way," he said, nodding at all of them. Amy looked incredibly pissed off, thinking she was the only sane one there because all of it was decidedly crazy. She still followed River, however, taking the man called John's orders.

"I don't like that I've been pulled into this, River," she spoke, searching through the different doors. This didn't look like the halls of the other TARDIS, but she could cope, she assumed. Faintly, she wondered what was going on with the Doctor.

"Oh, mother, no one really likes getting pulled into things like this. How do you think I feel? Chasing the Doctor across galaxies...dimensions, all to pursue someone who will outlive me," she ended up whispering the last part, a tear trickling down her face. He should be happy with Rose, the bad wolf which was swept up in the oncoming storm.

"Why are you crying? There ain't no reason to do that," Amy said, stopping to stroke her daughter's face. "What's wrong? You're a time lord, you're going to live as long as the Doctor, won't you?" with a look in her daughter's eyes, she panicked, "Won't you?"

"Remember, mother, when you met me, back when I looked a whole lot different?" River smiled bitterly. "I almost killed the Doctor that day, until I realized who and what he is. Until I gave him the rest of my regenerations." She sighed a heavy, deep sigh. "He's going to get all my regenerations, after all I've only used a couple. He's going to go on living, all because I made some stupid mistake."

Sometimes I think the Time Lords live too long.

The Doctor was laughing as he held tightly to Rose's hand and ran. It was almost like old times, back when everything seemed right. Back when Rose gave him all the answers and saved him. How could he ever think that he didn't need Rose, his Rose? He slowed to a walk to catch his breath, holding tightly to Rose's hand, the hand he thought he'd never hold again.

"Do you remember the first time you told me to run?" she asked, staring at him with her fond eyes. "I was so young, fresh and unknowing. Working in the stupid shop. Where I thought I was going to die," she laughed breathlessly, turning to check a room. "And when everything seemed absolutely impossible," she looked at him, smiling.

"I took your hand and told you to run," he laughed, squeezing her hand. "And we did run, away from everything."

"Straight into trouble, yeah," she laughed, allowing him to check another room. "I can't count how many times I ended up almost dying because of something you wanted to do so badly that it seemed like such a good thing," she was still laughing, holding tightly to his hand, as though a lifeline, as though afraid to let go. It didn't go unnoticed by the Doctor.

"Rose, what's really going on?" he asked, turning to her, darkness swirling in his eyes. Rose stood speechless as she stared at him. Those were the same eyes she stared into countless times, no matter how much he changed. They switched and swirled and carried his emotions like a tornado and she loved it. She hated seeing him annoyed or flustered, but she also hated answering that question.

"It really isn't all that fine and dandy I suppose," she whispered. "John isn't...he isn't like me. He didn't change. He's still human. I haven't told him what's happened to me cause...well...I didn't want him to leave. I love him, yeah, but not like you. He isn't gonna live forever, you know?"

"Well, neither am I," the Doctor said, gathering her into his arms. She leaned her head against his shoulder, sighing and releasing the worried tension.

"But I didn't think I could stand losing you again."

That's what she meant by losing her Doctor again. Losing him twice, almost a third time. He understood it now. She lost him once, with the cybermen, once when he had left her on Bad Wolf Bay with the other Doctor, the day his heart was split in two, and almost lost him now, because her Doctor was dying. Slowly, but painfully still.

"But that isn't enough to really have to call me here. This is a TARDIS, you could have done it yourself," he stared at her, watching the slow progress of fear begin to take over her eyes as she watched his own perturbed depths.

"I can't save this world on my own, just like you can't. There's something here, Doctor, I can feel it. It's in this TARDIS, ready to break out, and it's scaring me," she whispered, water glistening in her eye. "John knows that I'm going to leave with you, there isn't any doubt about it, he's already given me his goodbye, had the moment he gave me the power of the Time Vortex, but I won't leave him here to fend for himself!" she ended up shouting, just as she always did when she felt so strongly about something.

The Doctor stared at her. Such fierce love, for everything. His old hearts ached for this wonderful, mysterious, new Time Lord. He swept her up in his arms and kissed her tenderly, brushing her cheek with the side of his thumb. The first kiss he could ever remember which was slow, unhurried, promising of so much more that he could finally let himself believe in.

"I told you to not let go," he reminded her, grasping her hand once more and taking off down the hall. "Run, Rose!" he shouted, "Run!" she knew this was the start. She hoped there would never be an end.


	4. Chapter 4

"And you, the pink and yellow human, who wears your heart on her sleeve," he sneered in his mind. Or so he thought.

"Who's a pink and yellow human?" Rory asked from behind him, thinking out loud from John's words. He looked about, from one room to the next, searching for whatever they'd come looking for. So far he could tell John wasn't the helping sort, as he hadn't opened a single door yet, choosing to mutter to himself about some girl.

"No one, just a story I'm retelling myself," he smiled at the human, turning to stalk down a corridor, words revolving in his mind of Rory. Some stupid little human, caught up with time lords and eaten by a hole in the universe. Some stupid, ignorant little human, easy enough to get rid of. John's eyes turned dark as he continued down the TARDIS hallways, hallways full of false hope and an empty monster he was not seeking, yet letting the others find. Mainly that stupid human.

Rose.

Once, her name sent shivers down his spine, memories of holding hands and defeating monsters together. Feelings of love coming easily to his one human heart. Yet, she _didn't want him._ She wanted the other, his clone, a perfect copy of him. Yet, she had to go and change as well.

She didn't tell him, oh no, she would never, ever tell him of anything good which would send her back to the other, _him._ She just kept it a little secret from him until he found a note, addressed to the Doctor, across universes, galaxies, dimensions.

_"...and Doctor, my Doctor, you must know, I do not die. Shot through the heart, I was, and yet I still live. I am a time lord, my Doctor, you must bring me home."_

He burned that infernal letter and let her believe he still loved her, still suspected nothing, still thought she was as human as he. Yet, the hate for humans lingering in his mind, from the time he was younger, the ninth regeneration, came forward and festered into intense anger and hate for the stupid beings. Need they even be here, taking up space and air?

He shook his head, turning his thoughts back to his plan. His plan to destroy Rose and The Doctor, to take his one-way ticket back to the other world and wreak his havoc. They needed havoc, for they had been too protected and sheltered by the Doctor for too long. Much too long. It was time to take out the vengeance and revenge he thirsted for, and it started with the little pink and yellow human.

"So, do you know what, exactly, we're looking for?" Rory spoke again, and John fought hard not to roll his eyes; instead, he turned and gave him the largest smile he could possibly muster underneath his unbelievably strong facade.

"Not a clue, but I'm sure that, when we see it, we'll know that it's what we're searching for."

"Oh."

Yes, oh. The Doctor and Rose would find the creature he'd planted, in a path leading away from the rest of them. It was a wonderful plan and he knew it. The one thing the Doctor could never run from, could never really defeat. He knew it so well because it frightened even him. He would have no chance if faced with this one thing turned ally.

And after? He would traverse the stars, decidedly on his own. Because he had become so disgustingly human. The stench of humanity clung to him like a disgusting cologne he could never get off, wash away with pretty perfumes or scented soaps. He hated what he was, how he was created, and that he was left in a different dimension with a stupid, shallow headed little pink and yellow human who could never know how it is to love, yet alone love the clone of the same man she'd been with for years. How he hated Rose Tyler.

And with Rory continuously opening and slamming doors as they stormed down the hall, he knew for certain there would be no tomorrow for that girl which wore her heart on her sleeve.

...mooo...

Rose giggled as her hand was pulled towards the end of the hallway, one last door standing ominously in the center. She didn't notice, nor care, that it was foreshadowing at it's finest. She was only wrapped up in the Doctor, all the excitement he brought with him.

"Last door, my dear Rose," the Doctor smiled at her, a giddiness flowing throughout his entire being as he gazed at her, love and so many other emotions swirling through his eyes. Flooding his entire being. Rose, his Rose, back again and ready to love. River, Amy...Rory, none of that mattered. There was only Rose, standing here with her beautiful eyes glowing as she watched him.

"Shall we open it together?" she smiled, reaching towards it before the Doctor caught her wrist, staring at the door with a rather peculiar expression. "What? Doctor?" she said in alarm, knowing that look although seeing it in a different face was a complete shock.

"Rose, I will ask you to stay behind me. Whatever is on the other side of this door is angry, powerful, and waiting. It's waiting for us, ready to destroy. Whatever is on the other side is going to kill us." She looked at him in terror. She didn't want to believe him. "So stay behind me, and we will figure this out, okay?" he gave her the most reassuring smile he could manage.

Rose wrapped her arms around him for a hug and then hid herself behind him, taking his hand and resting the other against the back of his neck. "Let's go, Doctor."

He flung the door open, ready to face the universe with her. He opened the door, unsuspecting yet very ready for what lay behind it. He opened the pathway to an imminent death when he met the most unlikely face behind the millionth door. When he met the last person he would suspect hiding in the last doorway of the last place he would want to be.

A tear found it's way down the Doctor's face as a vulnerability from his last life came to him as he looked upon the face of a once friend and loyal ally.

The insane face of the Master.

"Oh hello," he smiled in an uncannily friendly way, "did you miss me?"

He could only feel the buzzing in his mind as Rose looked towards him in confusion. "Who is this, Doctor? Who is this?" she only asked him over and over.

Who is he? He couldn't bring himself to answer the question, although his tenth regeneration would have.

"You're supposed to be dead," was all he could bring himself to murmur.


End file.
